1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a parts mounting and assembling apparatus for use in integrated (full-scale) manufacturing of small-sized parts including micro sensor devices, such as MEMS (Micro Electro Mechanical System) gyro sensors.
2) Description of the Related Art
In general, for the integrated manufacturing of small-sized parts including micro sensor devices, such as MEMS (Micro Electro Mechanical System) gyro sensors, there is a need to realize, in addition to a high-precision machining technique and a mounting technique, a fine low-vibration handling technique between processes in a limited space and at a high order.
In the recent years, along with the progression of modularizing and size-reduction of facilities, in addition to the attempts to achieve the space and energy reduction and short-term startup, there has been a requirement to develop a high-precision and small-sized mounting and assembling apparatus applicable in common to study/experiment to quantity production factories.
Moreover, on the study/experiment level, there is a need to flexibly cope with a change of mounting and assembling process stemming from a frequent element change while on the quantity production level there is a requirement for high throughput and high extensibility. Still moreover, the size and cost reduction are required on either level.
So far, in general, for the mounting/assembling of sensor devices, a die bonder system has been put to use, for example, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Nos. SHO 57-145334 and HEI 10-308404. This die bonder system is suitable for the mass production, for that it achieves the fast high-precision mounting/assembling. On the other hand, it is unsuitable for the large item small volume production because of requiring a high initial investment and a long time length for startup before stable operation. Moreover, a current small-sized modularized facility line considering the large item small volume production cannot satisfy the speed and accuracy requirements (high speed and high accuracy) required in a field of sensor devices.
The problems of the current large item small volume production system are the following (1) to (3).
(1) So far, a product development department manufactures trial models once or twice for quantity production. The facility for the production of the trial models uses a simple jig principally operated in a manual fashion, and the manufacturing condition or the like depends upon this jig. At the quantity production, there is a need to further determine a manufacturing condition suitable for the quantity production facility, which requires much time for the startup for the quantity production of products. Therefore, there is a requirement to develop a parts mounting apparatus whereby the facility at the product test production is directly usable as a quantity production facility.
(2) Since a short-term mass production (a small life production quantity in the same model) is required for the current large item small volume production, there is a requirement to develop a parts mounting apparatus capable of coping flexibly with a variation of model while maintaining the high-speed performance.
(3) A further requirement is to develop a small-sized parts mounting apparatus having a high space productivity and applicable over the multi-generational products.